Sharp County record., 1887-09-01
TALMAGES SERMON.
The Power of the Gospel Shown by
Overwhelming Proof.
Faith the Christians Invincible weapon
in the Conflict-Mere Argument as
Nothing Before the Testimo-
ny of Witnesses.

"The Facts Proved" was the subject OF
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage's fifth sermon aU
"The Hamptons," the discourse Oelhs
founded on the following text:
We are witnesses.-Acts ILL, 10.
Tn the days of George Stephenson, the
| perfecter of the locomotive engine, tne
scientists proved conclusively that rail-
vav train could never be driven by steam
mower successfully and without peril; pue
| the rushing express trains from LlVerpooi
TO Edinburg, and from Edinburg 10 Lon,
don, have made all the nation witnesses OIL
| the splendid achievement Machlnlsts
| and nayigators proved conclusively that
steamer could never cross the Atlantic
| OCEAN. but no sooner had they successfully
nroyed the impossibility of such an under
| taking than the work was done, ana the
passengers on the Cunard, and the lnman,
and the National, and the White Star lines
are witnesses. There went up gutfaw
of wise laughter at Prof. MorSes 5
proposition to make the lightning OF
Heaven his errand boy, and it was proved
conclusiyelv that the thing could never be
done. but now all the news of the wide
world, put in your hands every morning
and night, has made all nations witnesses.
So in the time of Christ it was proved
conclusively that it was impossible for
him TO rise from the dead. 1t was shown
logically that when a man was dead he
was dead, and the heart and
the liver and the lungs having ceased to
perform their offices, the limbs would be
rigid beyond all power of friction or
arousal. They showed it to be an abso-
Lutte absurdity that the dead Christ should
get I'D alive; but no sooner had they
proved this than the dead Christ arose,
and the disciples beheld him, and they
took the witness-stand to prove that to be
true which the wiseacres of the day had
proved to be impossible; the record of the
experiment and of the testimony is in the
text:
Him hath God raised from the dead, whereof
we are witnesses.
Now, let me play the skeptic for a mo-
ment.
"There is no God" says the skeptc, "fer
have never seen him with my physical
evesight. Your Bible is pack of contra
dictions. There never was miracle.
Lazarus was not raised from the dead,
and the water was never turned into
wine. Your religion is an imposition on
the credulity of the ages"
There is an aged man moving in that
pew as though he would like to respond,
Here are hundreds of people with faces
little flushed at these announcements, and
all through this house there is sup
pressed feeling which would like to speak
out in behalf of the truth of our glorious
Christianity, as in the days Of the text,
| crying out:
We are witnesses.
The fact is, that if this world Is ever
brought to God it will not be through ar
gument, but through testimony. You
| might cover the whole earth with apollo
gies for Christianity and learned treatises
| in defense of religion-you would
| not convert soul. Lectures
on the harmony between science
and religion are beautiful mental discip-
line, but have never saved soul, and
never will save a soul. Put a man Of the
world and man Of the church against
each other, and the man Of the world will
in all probability get the triumph. There
| are a thousand things in our religion that
seems illogical to the world, and always
will seem illogical.
Our weapon in this conflict is faith, not
logic; faith, not metaphysics; faith, not
| profundity; faith, not scholastic explora-
tion. But, then, in order to have faith, we
must have testimony, and if 500 men, or
| 1000 men, or 100000 men, or 100000 men
get up and tell me that they have felt the
religion Of Jesus Christ joy, comfort, a
help, an inspiration, am bound as fair
| minded man to accept their testimony. l
want Just now to. put before you three
propositions, the truth of which think
this audience will attest with overwhelm-
| ing unanimity.
The first proposition is: We are wit
nesses that the religion of Christ is able to
| convert a soIl.
The Gospel may have had hard time to
conquer us, we may have fought it back,
but we we're vanquished. You say con-
version is only an imaginary thing. We
know better.
We are witnesses.
l0eT6 HeVeT was 81 BItdU NhohBO III
our heart and life on any other subject as
on this. People laughed at the mission
aries in Madagascar because they preached
ten years without one convert; but there
are thirty-three thousand converts in Mad
agascar to-day.
People laughed at DR.. Judson, the Bap-
tst missionary, because he kept on preach
ing in Burmah five years without single
convert; but there are twenty thousand
Baptists in Burmah to-day. People
laughed at DR.. Morrison, in China, for
preaching there seven years without a
single conversions; but there are fifteen
thousand Christians in China to-day. Peo-
pie laughed at the missionaries for preach
ing at Tahiti for fifteen years without
single conversion, and at the missionaries
for preaching in Bengal seventeen years
without a single conversion; yet in all
those lands there are multitudes Of Chris
tians to-day.
But why 90 so far to find evidences of
the Gospels power to save a soul!
We are witnesses
We were so proud that no man could
have humbled us; we were so hard that no
earthly power could have melted US;
angels of God were all around about US,
they could not overcome us; but one day,
perhaps at Methodist anxious-seat, or at
a Presbyterian catechetical lecture, or at
burial, or on horseback, power seized
US, and made US get down, and made us